Puppy Christmas

Starred review from August 26, 2019
Gilmore’s enchanting, laugh-out-loud second Service Puppies contemporary (after Puppy Love) is grounded by serious themes. Lila Vasquez runs a service dog academy with her sisters, who convince her to wear a fluffy pink dress to an elegant gala. She’s ready to disown them, but then sobbing six-year-old Emily decides Lila is a real-life princess—and Lila realizes that the girl’s father, Ford, would make an ideal Prince Charming. Ford, a lighthearted illustrator, has one priority: helping his beloved daughter cope with going deaf. When a charity connects them with Lila’s business, Lila pairs Emily with a darling cockapoo puppy and falls in love with Ford. Readers will be completely satisfied by the sensitive yet unsentimental way in which Gilmore portrays a young girl’s disability, a divorced father’s fretfulness about relationships and his own worth, and a beautiful woman’s insecurity. Gilmore’s generous novel is as appealing as a puppy. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary.

Narrator Lauren Sweet balances humor with serious issues in Gilmore's holiday romance. After Lila Vasquez meets Ford and his daughter, Emily, Lila discovers that Emily will soon receive a service dog puppy from her own company. Sweet ably conveys how Ford and Emily immediately fall for "Princess Lila," and an insta-family vibe ensues. Sweet bestows a deep, joking voice on Ford and an insistent, youthful voice on Emily, who has a mind of her own. Lots of lively dialogue will keep listeners rooting for Lila and Ford, although better editing would have improved Sweet's diction. Sweet makes equally compelling Lila's worries about her likability and Ford's concerns about his romantic eligibility as a moderately impoverished single father. Puppy training makes for fun listening with Lauren Sweet. C.A. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine